A comparison of peer relations among preschool children who stutter and non-stutter: Eski̇şehi̇r sample

This study aims to compare the peer relations of children who stutter and non-stutter in the preschool period. The study group consists of 90 stuttering (n=45) and non-stuttering (n=45) children ranging in age from 5 to 6 and their classroom teachers. In this study, "Children Information Form", "Children's Behavior Scale" and "Victimization Scale" were used as data collection tools. The data obtained were analyzed by using SPSS 21.0 package program. Mann Whitney-U Test and Chi-Square Test were used for analyses. The results showed that, the peer relations of the groups who stutter and non-stutter have been found to vary significantly in terms of subscales of showing "Anti-social Behavior", "Fearful-Anxious Behavior", "Timid Behavior", "Exclusion by Peers" and "Hyperactivity". The group of children with stuttering have taken higher points from all these sub-scales than non-stuttering children. In addition to this, no significant difference was found between stuttering and non-stuttering groups in terms of subscales of showing "Aggressive Behavior" and "Pro-Social Behavior". The stuttering and non-stuttering groups were found to differ significantly in terms of their points in "Peer Victimization". The points of stuttering group for "Peer Victimization" is higher than non-stuttering group. Finally, a significant difference was found between the stuttering group and non-stuttering group in terms of the variable of "School Adjustment Problem". In the group of stuttering children, the number of children with the problem of school adjustment was found to be higher than in non-stuttering group. Keywords: Stuttering, Peer Relations, Peer Victimization